


Four Little Knights

by medi



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One Shot Collection, canon doesn't tell us enough, i'm here to develop shit on my own
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2020-11-15 03:17:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20859350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/medi/pseuds/medi
Summary: Various one-shots looking into the lives of the Dragon Knights and their relationships with each other and others in the crew. (OCs included in some stories.)As of 6/6/20 I'm marking this as complete. It was a place to toss things that I wanted to post but were too short to put up by themselves and I'm not sure I'm going to add anything else to it. Hope you enjoyed! I'll write more 4kishi in the future.





	1. Catch Me If I Fall

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to write some LanVane so I scribbled this one down during work when I got a good idea lol. Then I ended up really liking it  
... And then I just kept writing more dragon knights bc I'm love them. But this one came first, bc I wanted Vane looking after an exhausted Lancelot and telling him to look after himself.

When the page on the desk turned to dark, blurry scribbles, it was time to put work aside for the night.

Maybe a man with less to do than Lancelot could say so, and confidently tuck into bed knowing his work would wait until tomorrow. The remnants of his dinner cooked by Vane sat pushed aside with a stack of finished (or unfinished? he was starting to forget) papers, and a cup of cold tea once intended to keep him awake was now forgotten behind an empty inkwell. It was less action and more desk work these days, but either one still left him just as tired.

Vane went to bed long ago and told him, as always, to get some rest. Rest hadn't been on Lancelot's mind since the half-hour nap he'd taken this afternoon. His only sleep for the past two days now, really. Last night so many things were rolling through his head, the sun was up by the time he gave a thought to rest; he simply started the new day. Vane said he was up early.

Lancelot leaned back in his chair to yawn and stretch his arms. Just a bit longer, then he could turn in.

"Lancey! I thought you went to bed already!"

When Vane poked his head into the room and spoke it startled Lancelot out of the ounce of concentration he'd been holding onto.

"Vane! Y-Yes, I was going to now."

"Now" to his sleep-deprived brain meaning right now, as he stood up and walked not two steps before he dropped to the floor. Of course, he didn't notice; his sight had gone dark already. He stayed conscious long enough to hear Vane calling his name once, strong arms catching him to cradle his limp, exhausted body before it could slam into the cold floor, and next he woke up in his bed.

"Are you alright? What happened?! Are you sick? You just fell over and-" Vane threw one question after another at him without giving him a chance to answer the myriad of others he'd asked.

"I'm fine, Vane. I didn't get enough sleep, that's all." Lancelot said.

"But you've been working all day! If you were tired you should've turned in early. How much sleep did you get last night?"

"I... had a quick nap earlier, and... that's... that's all the sleep I've gotten the past couple of days." Lancelot admitted, twisting his hair around his finger. He was staring a hole into the wall across from him.

"That's no good at all! Lancey, you told me you would sleep soon after I brought you dinner. You _promised_ me."

The genuine hurt in Vane's voice made him wince.

"I..." There were no good excuses for breaking his promise to Vane. "I'm sorry. I get so caught up in work, and then it feels like everything has to be done now..."

"You try to do too much by yourself." Vane pulled him up from the bed by his hands, his thumbs rubbing circles across the tops of them. "You've gotta let me take on some of your workload."

"Vane, no, I couldn't possibly-! You already do so much for me." Lancelot squeezed the hands resting in his, and Vane's fingers tightened around them.

"I'm your vice-captain, it's my job!" Vane insisted. "And I'm your best friend, too! And your-"

"I know." Lancelot said. "That's why I can't make you do all of this."

Vane leaned forward so the tips of their noses bumped against each other.

"You rely on yourself too much, Lancey. You know you've got friends who're okay with helping you, right? I'm always here for you. Promise."

"Vane..." Lancelot sighed, then rubbed their noses together with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for worrying you. I supposed it's no good if my trying not to stress you causes you stress."

Vane's hands disappeared into Lancelot's dark curls as he leaned forward to kiss his forehead. "I'm not stressed! I just want you to look after yourself. And get some sleep."

Lancelot relaxed into the soothing embrace that brought him back to the comfort of his bed, humming his contentment while Vane trailed kisses across his jaw and down his neck.

"I suppose I should take a rest day tomorrow." he said, settling back against Vane's chest.

"You better," Vane said, and without even looking Lancelot knew he was smiling. "I'll take care of everything that needs taking care of. And Lancey?"

"Hm?" Lancelot's heavy eyelids were starting to fall.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Vane. Good night."

"Good night, Lancey."

Lancelot turned onto his other side for one last good-night kiss before his exhausted body finally gave way to blissful sleep, lulled by the rhythmic beats of Vane's heart.


	2. Black Courage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percival confronts Siegfried after he's nearly lost in the midst of battle (again).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PerciSieg this time, written before the SIEGFRIED event, as was the one in the next chapter. We still don't know much about their relationship with each other so this my attempt to fill in the gaps. I've been thinking about them a lot lately. :'|  
This is also the first appearance Zeph/Zephyr makes in these pieces. He started as my danchou replacement but now he acts more as a vice-captain of sorts... bc we can't let a 17 yr old keep making all these important, life-altering decisions alone, right?  
Basically he acts as a secondary voice for the captain, and an adult counterpart to pair with the older characters.... and make the story make a little more sense, rather than just having all these adults trust this single teenager with their lives.  
Also, Zeph hails from Zinkenstill like the captain. He didn't know anyone prior to the beginning of the game.

"Where is he? Let me see him." The sound of Percival's boots storming across the deck didn't much imply he had any heartfelt concern for the man he spoke of, or any respect for this man's decision to accept a finishing blow in place of another.

Zephyr stood outside the bedroom, bandages in hand.

"He got hit pretty bad, but he'll live," he said upon seeing Percival. "Same old Siegfried, eh?"

Percival frowned at his attempt to sound nonchalant. Rather than respond, he snatched the bandages from Zeph's hand.

"Give me those. I'll take care of him." he grumbled.

Zeph merely offered him a crooked smile and stepped aside, ensuring the door closed behind Percival. Siegfried sat on the bed shirtless, his fresh wounds exposed to await a salve and the protection of gauze. His closed eyes now opened halfway; one eyebrow raised at the sight of Percival, who tossed himself onto the bed to begin his work.

"Never again," he said. "Never, ever, do that again. Do you understand me?"

His fingers massaging salve into the wounds betrayed his harsh scolding.

"I'm not one of your vassals," Siegfried said, in the gentle voice of an old commander reprimanding his young subordinate. "You can't give me orders and expect me to follow them."

He meant no harm. Still, Percival gritted his teeth. Still, his fingers did not falter in their precise, soothing movements.

"You'd make a poor vassal," he said, placing gauze atop a wound. "What good is a vassal who throws his life away on a whim and worries his lord?"

"Is the purpose of a vassal not to protect his lord?" Siegfried countered without so much as a change in tone. "Then his concern is his lord's life, not his own."

"It doesn't matter," Percival snapped. "You aren't a vassal, you're a knight."

He slapped medical tape across the gauze with more force than he meant to, but Siegfried didn't flinch.

"In name only," Siegfried continued. "I no longer perform a knight's duties."

"Then what is it when you pull stupid stunts like this one?"

"My personal duty."

"Siegfried!" Percival's boots slammed down on the floorboards, fists clenched at his sides. He stood there. He did not face Siegfried. "You really are... the same as always."

And he departed, his work done.

On the battlefield once more, a sharp blade pierced his side, and the pain brought a smile to his face, blood trickling out between his teeth. He put himself in front of the protector, and that blank expression became fear and worry.

"Percival!" Siegfried caught him in his arms before his fall, cold chainmail glove pressing into Percival's wound. "Why did you...?"

"I said... never again," Percival replied, the grin still plastered on despite himself. "This was my... personal duty..."

He caught sight of Siegfried's eyes widening just before his own closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These two are surprisingly hard to write, especially with each other. ;w; I'm trying my best as I attempt to figure them out.


	3. Spitfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Siegfried can't understand what would make someone throw themselves into danger for _him_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of the previous piece... with a little more SiegPerci + one Zephyr. I worked out their dynamic a little more. This like the other one was also written prior to the SIEGFRIED event.

The moment he heard that Percival had been tended to, Siegfried hurried through the Grandcypher's living quarters to a room not far from his own. The crew's skilled healers had departed, leaving only the captain and their usual entourage crowded near the door to look in on their patient. Zephyr caught Siegfried coming down the hall and his breathless question of, "How is he?"

Something in the cruel irony of this situation brought a wry smile to Zeph's face.

"It was a nasty wound. He's feverish but rest and medicine should bring him back around; our crew of healers kept infection from setting in."

"Is he asleep?"

"Yeah. Should we leave you two alone?" This spoken a bit quieter, to where their captain couldn't hear.

"... Thank you." was Siegfried's non-answer, but Zeph understood it and herded the younger ones away with him.

Haunting images of that sick grin Percival gave him still floated in Siegfried's mind, as though he took some twisted pleasure in having himself torn apart in Siegfried's place, and that smile never left him even as blood flowed from the gash in his side...

"Siegfried." Percival lay on his back, but his eyes were open and he was very much awake. The door closing might have disturbed him.

Siegfried scrambled for words, at first thinking to ask why, ask what Percival had been thinking, but he remembered his own words thrown back into his face: _"This was my personal duty."_

Even so, he couldn't help himself: "Why... did you do this?"

"Why did I do what?" Percival stared at the ceiling, motionless except for his mouth moving as he spoke. "Act like you? Do exactly what you do every battle, throwing myself in the path of danger to keep you from killing yourself for others?"

"I wasn't-"

"You were!" Percival shot up, his face flushed with fever and his red hair sticking to his forehead. When Siegfried tried to make him lay back down, Percival grasped the front of his shirt.

"What sin do you think you need to atone for with your life?!" he shouted inches from Siegfried's stunned face. "Why do you think no one in this world needs you, that no one would miss you if you were gone, so you go trying to sacrifice yourself at any opportunity?! The first time you left, we all felt betrayed, but even more than that, we missed you! _I_ missed you, a friend, someone I admired and-!"

He fell silent. His tunic, loosely tied around his waist, had slid from his shoulders, and his damp forehead dropped to Siegfried's chest. His vice grip on the shirt wavered. Siegfried's lips came to rest atop his crown, his fingers weaving through locks of red.

"I don't know what you think about everyone else," Percival said, quieter. "But I care about you. I won't let you believe otherwise."

"Is there more you want to tell me?" Siegfried asked him, his voice further softened by speaking into Percival's hair.

"There is. But I'm not ready to say it just yet. For now I want you here. With me."

Their hands met as both were rising in search of each other. Percival gave up his hold on Siegfried partway but refused to release his other hand until he felt Siegfried's arm around his waist and they were laying side by side on the bed. Siegfried released him only a moment to brush Percival's bangs from his eyes, then his hand was steadfast in Percival's once more.

"I'm sorry," he said, his lips so close to Percival's that the breaths between each word danced across them. "For all the pain I caused you. Now and then. I don't want to leave you alone. That's... the last thing I want. To leave you alone and hurting."

"... I'm glad to hear you say that." Percival averted his gaze, not quite able to meet Siegfried's tender look. "Talk to Lancelot and Vane. They've been worried too."

"I will. But I promised to stay with you for now."

"You did, didn't you?" A gentle squeeze of Siegfried's hand, so unlike Percival, but then maybe more like him than Siegfried knew. His unexpected softness somehow fit right alongside his fiery temper. "Take care of yourself, Siegfried."

"I promise you I will. For myself. And for you."

He parted Percival's bangs and kissed his forehead, where the heat was beginning to die down. "Percy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh boy 3am!


	4. Beware the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beast within sleeps until dusk, then Siegfried's worst nightmares replay over and over in his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *writes a multi-pair dragon knights fic collection and then only writes PerciSieg 3 times in a row* ahahaha  
I'M SORRY more LanVane sometime soon but I've had this one stuck in my head since the event. I'm a sucker for this type of angst, bc the only angst I can write has happy ends.  
Also reminds me that I should write more fight scenes cause sometimes I get a lil carried away with that. Speaking of tw for choking and violent imagery on this one. Your faves die but not for real. I promise.

Springtime sunlight filtered through the cherry tree set atop a grassy knoll, casting a soft pink glow on the surroundings. This little date spot had been long recommended, but with the crew so busy as of late, not to mention outside duties, Siegfried and Percival's schedules rarely lined up to give them a spare moment together.

A miracle made today happen, both of them free of any activities and anticipating their lunchtime picnic date. Vane was so excited for them he even put together their meal, as of course the location came at the suggestion of himself and Lancelot.

Percival strode ahead of Siegfried to scout the perfect spot on the knoll to set down their blanket, standing in place there until Siegfried reached him and they set out their table, letting their fingers brush against each other "by accident" more than once in the process. On Percival's face rested one of those soft, genuine smiles Siegfried so rarely saw from him: it was a small gift every time he did. After they ate, they drank in the sunlight and the gentle spring breeze, languishing in their lazy afternoon. Siegfried must have had an odd look on his face when he turned to Percival, who asked him, "What's the matter?"

A silence hung between them.

And broke in an instant.

Siegfried's hands clamped down around Percival's neck, an action he didn't realize he was taking, then it happened and he had no idea why.

"Hey, Siegfried!" Percival called for his attention, grasping at his wrists, but even the Lord of Flames couldn't match the Dragonslayer's strength. "Hey!"

His voice sounded so far away. The sights, the sensations, everything... so far away. The clearest feeling was the muscles in Percival's neck straining against his hands.

_Stop._

Why was he doing this?

_Stop._

Why couldn't he control himself?

_Stop it._

Real fear shown in Percival's eyes now, flames building around his hands as he tried to wrench Siegfried's away, but each struggle tightened Siegfried's grip.

What was this uncontrollable rage overtaking him, one he couldn't override no matter how hard he tried? Some animalistic instinct eating away at all thought and rationality. How was he separated from his own body like this?

_Stop, stop, stop...._

The light was fading from Percival's eyes, his coughing and spluttering coming to a slow, horrifying stop. His hold slackened, his pulse weak. And yet Siegfried kept squeezing, harder, wanting the last of that life to ebb away under his iron grasp.

_Stop it, stop, stop stop stopstopstop-_

"STOP!!"

Siegfried awoke screaming, or close to it, as his vocal chords were weak from sleep, soaked in sweat and gasping for air.

A dream. A dream again.

He took slow, shaking breaths to stabilize himself. These nightmares were getting more frequent. And maybe worse. He couldn't tell about that part; they were all bad.

They didn't come every night, but their contents often haunted his waking hours too. His precious friends, people he treasured more than life itself, dead by his own hand, torn limb from limb or impaled on the edge of his sword, or some other gruesome tactic. He'd taken many victims in his dreams. Lancelot. Vane. The captain. Now Percival.

Though none of it happened, he struggled to look at them without seeing Vane's tear-streaked face while he fought a losing battle with the greatsword in his chest, or Lancelot smeared with blood, standing his ground despite his very life gushing out from where his right arm used to be.

And they would defend themselves. But they never fought back. Like he knew they wouldn't. Last time, it almost cost them.

He must have died when Gunther performed that ritual. And here he was, reborn as some fucking monster.

"Mm... Siegfried?"

The voice at his side startled him, and he soon recalled he had someone else in bed with him. Though he and Percival shared a room and a bed, late night duties tended to keep them apart, one spending most or all of the night without the other next to him. Before tonight, Siegfried experienced the nightmares alone.

"Sorry. Did I wake you?"

"I felt you thrashing around, yes." Percival propped himself up on his arm, rubbing his eyes. "Did you say something earlier?"

Siegfried stared at anything but Percival. If he looked at him, he'd see those fearful eyes again.

"It's nothing. Go back to sleep."

The rustling of the sheets were not the sound of someone turning over to go back to sleep.

"You're drenched in sweat and shivering. It's not nothing. Tell me."

He thought he'd stopped the pathetic shaking, but it seemed not. And he couldn't brush off Percival's concern, his love wouldn't allow it. Maybe it was okay to tell him?

He'd seen Vane and Lancelot doing this... thing. This thing where one sensed their partner was off somehow and sidled up to them and held their hand and asked what was wrong. Friends asked after each other too, but the manner in which it was done was a little different, the _feeling_ was different, or he assumed so. He and Percival didn't check on Lancelot the same way Vane did, that much he knew. But he never had a partner before Percival, so he couldn't name that difference. Partners are also often dear friends, aren't they? And so it might be the combination of two types of intimacy that comforted one enough to spill their deepest concerns to their partner. A comfort Percival tried to give him now, in that unconventional way Percival conveyed his feelings.

This knowledge, though... it became a burden to whoever had it. Siegfried may have learned to share his burdens from that incident, but this one? He desperately wanted to shoulder it alone.

"Are you going to tell me?" Percival asked him.

"I... don't know if I can." he answered.

"Was it a dream? A nightmare? About what?"

A warm hand held Siegfried's, a gesture where the blazing flames channeled themselves into a subtle heat for a beloved's chilled fingers. Siegfried realized his hands were indeed very cold and very clammy. He tried to swallow, but his throat was dry.

"About... you." he choked out.

"What about me? What happened?" Percival pressed him, but not harsh or forceful as he might be to anyone else. The gentle crooning of his voice made the admission come easier.

"I hurt you," Siegfried finally admitted. "I tried to... to..."

And he couldn't finish. His free hand came up to cover his face.

"To... _kill_ you." With some effort, he managed it. "I _did_ kill you, Percy, I-."

The rest of his words were lost in swallowing mucus and clenched teeth trying to hold back tears that insisted on coming.

"I didn't want to but I couldn't _stop_ myself and I think I'm becoming a _monster_-"

"Siegfried." A tender but firm grip on his arm.

He'd started rambling, but it had all been inside of him for too long. The beast lurked at the edge of his consciousness, and at his most vulnerable it conquered him, showing visions of himself destroying all he loved with his own hands. A destruction he _knew_ he almost brought about once before.

"You're not a monster." Percival told him.

At that, Siegfried had to laugh, a laugh so bitter as to sound almost disgusted. To be sure, he didn't hate Percival. He hated himself.

"You say that with such confidence, after everything that happened?" he said through remnants of tears.

"You talk as if it happened yesterday."

"It's _still_ happening, inside of me! You aren't the first person to die in my dreams and every time I can feel that dragon getting closer. Soon there won't be anything left of me. And when that time comes I-"

"No," Percival stopped him. "Don't you dare ask me to kill you. Not again."

"If you don't, one of the others will have to."

"No they won't. Listen to me, we'll never let it get that far again. Even if you start to lose yourself, we'll stop it."

"I already have."

"Then _I'll_ stop it." So saying, Percival put his hands on either side of Siegfried's face and pulled him in for a kiss.

They both knew a simple kiss couldn't solve a problem like this. But it was a start. And, just for a moment, it settled Siegfried's frantic mind and heart, as well as the dragon within. In it its place, a remembrance of how much love he had for this one man and his friends, and the love they all had for him. They tried so hard before to save him...

"What did we tell you then, Siegfried?" Percival asked after they parted. "You don't have to face anything alone."

"I know," Siegfried answered. "But... I thought I had to, just once more. I could barely accept it myself, that some hidden part of me still wants to hurt all of you. One I want nothing more than to banish forever."

"And you will," Percival said. "With all the help you could possibly need from us. From me. You have only to ask. Understand?"

Siegfried chuckled, a not self-deprecating one for the first time this conversation. "I do. And you have my promise that I'll use it."

"Good." With a small smile, Percival wiped the last of Siegfried's tears from his eyes.

"Ah, but, Percy?"

"Hm?"

"I'm suddenly... very tired..." He leaned forward into Percival's shoulder, putting all his weight on it.

"Wha- Siegfried! Hey! You're too big for this, knock it off! Siegfried!!"

His protests came too late, the two of them falling back onto the bed together. Percival's face flushed a pretty bright red. Siegfried flashed him a sleepy smile.

"You're so comfy, Percy."

"And you're enormous. But I suppose for tonight I can let you do this." Percival tucked Siegfried's head under his chin, kissing the top of it as he did so, and Siegfried kissed the base of his neck in return.

"Rest well, my brave dragon slayer," Percival told him. "We have work to do in the days ahead."

"I will. And you do so also, my valiant prince of flames."

Hands clasped, they slept intertwined like this. For now, the nightmares left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have not seen the END of my sappy pet names. There will be more in the fics to come, and they will be GUSHIER. I think these two have mushy nicknames for each other don't @ me.  
I really like to write abt Siegfried being dumb and not really understanding feelings also bc like. me too.


End file.
